Young, poor, from far away – These soldiers are going to battle for Putin

Again and again, Ukraine shares photos of Russian soldiers and thus also messages about the backgrounds of all those who died in the fight against Ukraine. Very often these are men from the deepest reaches of eastern Russia, some of whom have traveled about 6,000 kilometers before taking up arms.

Data from the fallen provide insight
Britain’s “BBC” has now evaluated publicly available information from more than 1080 Russian soldiers proven to have died in the war. Although they represent only a fraction of all Russian casualties – Ukraine is now talking about nearly 20,000 Russians killed – the analysis provides an insight into the Russian armed forces that would otherwise not be possible.

Many come from poor regions
One of the soldiers is Makhail Garmaev – the professional soldier was killed near Kiev on March 6. Garmaev is from Siberia, where he began to study after school, but then enlisted in the army as a conscript. After returning home, he worked as an alarm installer before returning to the military.

In the course of its investigation, the “BBC” came across numerous such cases: many come from a poor background in the deep east of Russia. In particular, 80 percent of the cases of men came from areas where people face difficult economic conditions. For example, the Dagestan region is mentioned – 93 deaths of the list come from there, where the unemployment rate is currently 16 percent, well above the Russian average of four percent.

Not a single soldier from Moscow
Many of those affected come from the extreme east of the country – from Buryatia, more than 6,000 kilometers from Kiev. Particularly interesting: the analyzed list does not include a single soldier coming from Moscow – there is also no information from the Ukrainian side about dead forces from the capital.

money or life
As the Washington Post reported, about 70 percent of the Russian military is made up of professional soldiers. The reason for this seems simple: the military provides financial security that the men would not otherwise have. According to the newspaper, the soldiers ultimately earn about 1,000 euros a month – well above the minimum wage of about 230 euros.

The remainder of the military consists of conscripts, who also often come from economically weaker households. As Kamil Galeev, an expert on the Russian military, explained via Twitter, people from high-income households can avoid the mandatory year in the military.

Propaganda uses all means
The poor conditions are likely to play a decisive role in Putin’s strategy. The Kremlin made sure from the start that the propaganda was directed in such a way that the real images from Ukraine were kept as far away from the Russian population as possible. Failing this, the risk would be too great that the official justification for the “special operation” – ie the elimination of “Nazis” – would come to light sooner.

mothers like Danger for Putin
This is made much easier by the use of armed forces from families who are unable to pinpoint the circumstances or even cause a major outcry. The fact that troops are sent into battle from thousands of miles away also plays a role here – after all, most of them have hardly any personal ties to Ukraine.

“A great danger to the government in Russia has always been the mothers of the soldiers,” historian Juliane Fürst told ntv. Should more and more wealthy mothers find out about the deaths of their sons, Putin’s stability in Russia would also be in jeopardy.